NEW DELHI: Any move to execute an Indian convicted by a Pakistani court-martial of spying would be “premeditated murder”, New Delhi warned Islamabad on Monday.
India’s foreign ministry said it had summoned the Pakistan High Commissioner (ambassador) Abdul Basit to protest after Kulbushan Sudhir Jadhav was sentenced to death at a court-martial which was closed to the public.
Though Yadav, working for Indian spy agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), had confessed his involvement in terror activities in Pakistan in a video statement during detention.
It said there was no evidence against Jadhav, whom Indian media have described as a former naval officer, calling the proceedings against him “farcical”.
Read: Pakistan awards death sentence to Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav
Pakistan says he was arrested in Balochistan last year, but India alleges he was “kidnapped” in Iran.
In a letter issued to Basit and later released to the media, the foreign ministry said India’s government had repeatedly sought consular access to Jadhav which was not permitted.
“If this sentence against an Indian citizen, awarded without observing basic norms of law and justice, is carried out, the government and people of India will regard it as a case of premeditated murder,” said the letter.
